


An Unexpected Reunion

by Scylla87



Category: Prison Break
Genre: Angst, Gen, Old Friends, Reunions, Talks of Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 23:58:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17908160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scylla87/pseuds/Scylla87
Summary: After years away from home, Sara returns to Chicago briefly and encounters an old friend.





	An Unexpected Reunion

An Unexpected Reunion:

Sara’s fingers tapped against the cup in front of her as she glanced around the cafeteria. She was uncertain whether or not coming here had been a mistake. Years ago, she had come here with her mother, back before her father’s political career had taken over their entire lives and her mom was still working as a nurse. They had made some good memories here. It was those memories that helped to put her at ease, but the years of running refused to let her completely relax.

 

It had been so long since she had allowed herself to relax for even a moment. Too long. The tension that had come to live between her shoulder blades was still refusing to ease completely. Maybe that was because being here, in this place also reminded her of other things that it was best not to dwell on. Like when she had worked here herself and how it’d ended. Or what might happen if someone recognized her. She wasn’t the same little girl who had sat here, in this place and made happy memories full of laughter and milkshakes. For one thing, she was the adult now, and it was a little boy squeezed onto the chair beside her.

 

She glanced over at him, unable to keep the smile off her face as she watched him dip his straw in his milkshake and pull it out again. He laughed as the chocolate concoction flowed back into the glass. The experiment was repeated again and again, his eyes lighting up at the result. “You shouldn’t play with your food baby,” she told him, sure that was what mothers were supposed to say.

 

There was no worry that he wouldn’t obey. Mike had always been very well behaved, almost to the point that sometimes she’d wonder if maybe he was the parent. Growing up she had always heard that whatever you were like as a child, your own child would be worse, but somehow that particular curse had skipped her. While she had been an unholy terror almost from the cradle, her own son had been smooth sailing from the start. He was early to sleep through the night, hardly ever cried, always listened to what he was told, cleaned up after himself. Any behavior she pointed out as unacceptable, like playing with your food, was immediately aborted and never taken up again. It was like living with a small, well trained solider. At times she found it a little eerie, not that she would say that out loud. Most mothers would kill to have a son who was so well mannered, but some days all she wanted was for a son who would cry if he was upset or throw a fit to get her attention. Mike seemed content to just go with the flow, no matter the situation. She sighed heavily and looked away from him. These thoughts always made her feel so guilty. It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with him. He was just a happy kid. After everything they had gone through, she should have been grateful he had turned out so well. So why was she taking him to see a child psychologist then?

 

She tried to push that question from her mind. This wasn’t an action that she was choosing to take because she wanted to fix her child, she reminded herself. He wasn’t broken. It was just that being able to properly display emotions was important for someone to be a well-rounded individual. She just wanted to make sure he was okay, that she hadn’t done something wrong. That’s what this was, just making sure that he was okay.

 

She glanced over at him again to find that he still wasn’t drinking the milkshake she’d gotten him. Getting it had been kind of an impulse on her part, a vestige of her own childhood memories, a treat she only ever got to have when she visited her mom at work. Chocolate had always been her favorite. But he had never had a milkshake before, and she hadn’t considered that he might not like it. “Do you want something else?” she asked. “A different flavor?”

 

He looked a little guilty at the suggestion and lend forward and took an experimental sip of the drink. She wanted to tell him that it was okay, that he didn’t have to drink it, but the words were pushed from her mind by the calling of her name.

 

Time seemed to freeze around her as the word rolled over her. _Sara._ It was a name she was little familiar with. She was Mama or Mommy now, hardly ever Sara. And to be called that here, in a place she had once known very well, was like being kicked in the gut. Coming here had been a mistake. She never should have come back to Chicago. Someone had spotted her, was trying to get her attention. She struggled to place the voice in her memory, unsure who it could be. Carefully, she glanced in the direction of the sound and came face to face with the last person she had expected to see. Katie Welch stood a few feet away, her expression saying that she was just as shocked by the reunion as Sara was. “What are you doing here?” she asked, amazement in her tone.

 

Sara struggled to find the words as the nurse came closer. How many years had it been since they had last come face to face? Mike was four, so that would be… The answer refused to come. In fact, she was incapable of doing anything more than staring as the woman came closer. “May I sit?” the nurse asked, gesturing at the empty chair across from Sara.

 

For some reason, she nodded in response. Why was she making this worse? Why was she allowing the woman to sit down, to prolong their encounter? “Katie,” she finally managed to eek out. “This is a surprise.”

 

“You’re telling me,” Katie replied. “I didn’t think that I would ever see you again.”

 

She was smiling, but Sara still felt guilty about just leaving all those years ago. Katie had stood by her through everything, and she hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye. “About that…” she began to explain.

 

Katie waved away the explanation. “Oh no, I get it. You just needed to get away, get a fresh start. I was sad to see you go, but I understood.”

 

She looked like she meant it, which only made Sara feel even more guilty. “I should have told you that I was going.” Going where though? Where could she have said she was going that wouldn’t make Katie an unwitting accomplice? Nowhere readily came to mind. Anything she might have said would have only gotten Katie into trouble, and that was no way to repay her friend’s kindness. “I hope that the FBI didn’t bother you after I was gone.”

 

Katie waved off the suggestion. “They came around, asked if I knew where you were, but when I said I didn’t, they left me alone.” She laughed a little to herself. “Well, they left me alone eventually, once they realized I was telling the truth.”

 

Hearing that made Sara glad that she had resisted the urge to call after all. There had been moments once she was gone where she had considered getting into contact, moments when it was only her inability to find the words to explain the choices she had made that kept her from picking up the phone. She had carried those moments with her over the years, and the longer she went without calling, the harder it got to pick up the phone. Now they were face to face, and soon her friend would ask the questions that Sara wasn’t sure that she could answer. She struggled to find something to say. “That’s good,” she finally said, assuming that something was better than nothing.

 

Katie nodded absently, like she too was struggling for words to explain their prolonged estrangement. A soft slurping sound filled the silence between them. “Well, hello there,” the nurse said as her eyes shifted to Mike. She smiled as she took him in. “Is this your son? Must be. He looks just like you.”

 

Sara nodded; she’d been hearing that since he was born. Secretly, she wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse. The whole time she was pregnant, a part of her had longed to have a boy that was the spitting image of his father, but the thought of having to look at that face every day, knowing what was missing from their lives was unfathomable now. Maybe it was better that he looked like her. She reached out and ran a hand through his brown hair, not quite the reddish brown of hers but several shades too light to be his father’s dark locks. “That’s what everyone tells me,” she said with a soft smile. “Though he’s not like me at all.” And that was the absolute truth. Mike may have her eyes, but the intensity in there when he stared back at her was all Michael. “What about you?” she asked. “Do you have any kids?”

 

Katie pulled her phone out of her purse with a nod and turned it so Sara could see the image of a baby and a small child close to Mike’s age. “Piper is three and Willa is eleven months.” She beamed as she displayed the photo. “I bet Piper and this little one would get along like gangbusters. We should get them together sometime.”

 

Sara couldn’t say that she hated the idea. Playdates were what normal mothers did, and she had no doubt that Mike would enjoy getting to play with a girl about his own age. But the reality of the situation weighed heavy on her. Would Katie even be offering if she knew the truth? “Maybe,” she offered.

 

Katie smiled at that. “I know she’ll love it. What about you little one? Would you like to make a new friend?” She leaned across the table as she addressed Mike.

 

He glanced at his mother uncertainly before nodding almost imperfectively. The exchange made Katie chuckle again. “He’s certainly quiet. My girls will never let him get a word in edgewise.” She let out another good-natured laugh. “What’s your name little one?”

 

Sara had the briefest moment to realize the danger they were in before her son answered. “Mike.”

 

The name was said so quietly that Sara hoped that Katie hadn’t heard, but the look of recognition on the nurse’s face told her that wish was in vein. “Mike?” Katie repeated back just as quietly, eyes flicking to Sara. “That’s a nice name.”

 

“Thank you,” Mike said, showing good manners. “It was my dad’s name.”

 

The air was pushed from Sara’s lungs at his words. She waited to see how Katie would respond, no doubt in her mind that her old friend would not think the name was a coincidence.

 

The nurse’s gaze lingered on her son, clearly looking for some kind of recognition there, something to back up the boy’s claim. “That’s nice,” she said after a long moment. “Is he here with you guys?”

 

Mike shook his head as Sara continued to hold her breath. “He died when I was little,” the boy explained, his legs kicking out in front of him, nowhere near long enough to touch the floor.

 

“Little?” the nurse inquired, almost sounding amused at the use of the word.

 

Mike nodded vigorously. “Inside Mommy.”

 

Katie’s eyes widened as she turned from the boy. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said as her eyes alighted on Sara. She sounded sincere, but the situation was too complicated to be instantly sure. “I’m guessing that’s where you were going when you left?”

 

It was a question with a very obvious answer, yet one Sara still struggled to answer. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you,” she admitted. The ‘because I wasn’t sure you would understand’ went unstated.

 

Katie seemed to hear it anyway by the way she vaguely nodded and glanced around her. The conversation lulled, neither woman sure how to pick it up again. So much had happened since they had last seen each other, but it was hard to pick up where they had left off. Sara struggled for a way to explain why she had made the choices she had made. “I’m in love with him,” she finally said, landing on the simple unbridled truth. “I know that is hard for you to understand given everything.”

 

Katie’s jaw clenched, her eyes darting over to Mike. “I’m not sure this is the place to have this conversation,” she said, tone carefully controlled.

 

Sara couldn’t help glancing over at her son as well. His back was tense, eyes darting between the two adults. He had always been very perceptive to the world around him, even as a little baby. It was clear that he had picked up on the sudden shift in tension between his mother and this strange lady that had been talking to them. She hated that he was so intuitive at times like these. “Maybe you’re right,” she acknowledged.

 

Another dep silence spread between them, and in the lull, Sara took a moment to look at her watch. “Hey, we should go. It’s almost time for our appointment,” she said, trying to keep the relief from her voice.

 

Katie perked up at the mention of a consultation. “Is everything alright?” she asked, concern clearly genuine.

 

Mike cut in before Sara could respond. “I have to talk to the man Mommy knows.”

 

Katie shot her an uncertain look. “Just an old family friend, nothing to worry about.”

 

She rose from the table, holding a hand out to her son. “It was nice running into you,” she said, though it wasn’t entirely the truth. “Maybe if I’m still in town in a couple of days we could get together.”

 

“Of course,” Katie replied easily.

 

But as Sara walked away, they both knew that that was unlikely to happen. For now, what she needed to focus on was her son, the boy walking diligently beside her. She had come back with a purpose, and it was important that she remembered that. There might never be a time when she could make Katie understand, but she could do everything in her power to make sure that her son was a happy, healthy, well-adjusted kid. That was the whole reason she had come back to Chicago. She glanced down at her son. Never more than in this moment did she wish that Michael were here. They would be fine without him, had been fine for years now, but she would give anything to have him back, if only for their son’s sake. She just hoped that talking to the child psychologist would help.


End file.
